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Blame U.S. Drug Policy
For the Bolivian Uprising

By

Mary Anastasia O'Grady

Updated June 17, 2005 12:01 a.m. ET

Congress did not repeal the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1933 because it had decided alcohol abuse was pass&eacute;. It did so because it judged that the costs of Prohibition were higher than the benefits and that a regulated market would be a better way to manage a popular but sometimes harmful depressant drug.

The unintended consequence of Prohibition was the rise of violent organized crime and the spike in official corruption that accompanied it. After 13 years of Prohibition, most Americans didn't...